26ish books 2025

[Tinkhasflown]

A shiny new thread for 2025.

All welcome and note 26 is just a number. Everyone can set their own target and you are welcome here even if you only read 2 books a year.

I personally count the larger novel style books I read to my children and audio books I listen to. Others don't and there are no rules.

I look forward to all your suggestions again this year.

6, Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez

for bookclub, very in depth a analysis about the gender satay gap across all areas of educations, politics, transport, health etc etc etc

ive read quite a few a books about how shit it is to be a women so to be honest nothing surprised me in this - maybe apart from some of the medical stuff - but my problem is it’s not a call to arms, just says this is all awful and needs to change but no suggestions of how to make the change, I guess if you work in one of the many industries she mentions there are things on even a macro level you can do. Interesting but for me not really thought provoking, as always with these types of books it’s somewhere preaching to the choir, these books need to be read by men

5 A Spell of Good Things - Ayòbámi Adébáyò,

Although, I was intrigued by the storyline and the characters I found this a little challenging to read due to the traditional way the names and dialect were written. It took me a bit of time to get used to it.
I did think about giving up but my last book I didn't finish either so because of that and a desire to see how it ended I kept going. I am glad I did as I reas the last quarter much more easily.

I may be doing it a disservice as I was very busy with work and a bit distracted so it may be me not the book as it is usually the kind fo story I enjoy. I would be interested to hear the thoughts of anyone else who has read it.

I feel I could do with something a little easier now to get me back my reading mojo especially as I'm on holiday this week so I will catch up on everyone's suggestions.

4 - The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. 3/5*
I liked the format. The short chapters were great as I could pick it up and put it down easily. I read that Carey Mulligan was supposed to be playing the main character Nora in the film version but the article was from 2021, so I’m not sure if it’s still happening. I hope so as I’m a big Carey fan 💖

I’ve just started book 5, The Wind in the Willows edition and it’s absolutely beautiful.

2: mean streak by Sandra brown. Really enjoyed this. Definitely kept me hooked and didn't finish how I'd expected. Plenty of twists to keep it interesting!

1. I haven't been entirely honest with you, Miranda Hart
2. The Cracked Mirror, Chris Brookmyre
3. Fairy Tale, Stephen King

Took me a long time to get through Fairy Tale and it's not my favourite Stephen King book. But I still enjoyed it. Need to choose my next book now!

Finished Circe by Madeline miller and really loved it and was sad to finish. Have gone straight onto Song of Achilles by the same author.

Last night I finished book #4 Gravity - Tess Gerritsen. This is my first book read by her and I will definitely be reading more as I thoroughly enjoyed this! It was so interesting and easy to understand even with a load of NASA acronyms dotted around. Some of the medical/forensic descriptions were a bit 🤢 but I knew that was going to be part of it.

I didn’t realise the author had tried to sue about the movie! I have seen the movie before and the book is quite different!

1. The Housemaid’s Secret - Freida McFadden
2. The Housemaid Is Watching - Freida McFadden
3. Wicked - Gregory Macguire
4. Gravity - Tess Gerritsen

Book #5 will be The Snakes - Sadie Jones.

5. Mothers' Boys by Margaret Forster. I really enjoyed this. Centres on two women, one whose teenaged son was attacked and the other then gran who raised one of the attackers. It did get slightly wallowy in places but then the characters are wallowing, part of the narrative is they are struggling to move on and the need to still support those around them. Shades of We Need To Talk About Kevin but far less self conscious and stylised than Shriver who is rather marmite.

Just starting book 3- the bee sting paul Murray. Started normal people by Sally Rooney last night which I've had on my TBR list for ages, read 3 chapters last night but fell asleep and couldn't remember a single thing from it so trying something different!

Last night I finished no. 5 & started no. 6.
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros was very good (sequel to Fourth Wing) & continues the story strongly.
Started Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (3rd in The Empyrean series) last night - again follows straight after book 2; but is a hardback so a lot more cumbersome.

1.	Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
2.	Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch 
3.	Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
4.	Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
5.	Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
6.	Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

I'm still on book 2 (was not expecting to read 2 a month in reality but still...) really struggling to focus on reading, but made good progress with it yesterday.

I've had a really slow start to reading this year but currently have two on the go:
The Wintering by Katherine May and Assembly by Natasha Brown.
Both shortish books which I'm hoping to get through pretty quickly so I can get back on track!

@ItalianChineseIndianMexican wintering is a lovely book!

Yes, I'm enjoying it :)

Just finished Assembly by Natasha Brown.
Powerful, short novel covering some big topics including racism, sexism and cancer. Unique in its writing, it certainly packs a punch. 3 out of 5.

4. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. Loved, loved, loved this! The story, so clever, beautifully written, almost magical.

This is my first book my Maggie O'Farrell so looking for recommendations to read another.

I've also just finished Hamnet and really enjoyed it too, but I actually preferred The Marriage Portrait. Well worth reading!

Can I join you all here? Had an ambition to read 26 books last year and was following this thread, but only managed 17. I'm determined to get through 26 this year and am doing well, with 5 down so far.

1. This Strange Eventful History - Claire Messud. Long listed for the Booker 2024, the writing was undoubtedly good, but I struggled to get through this as I didn't find any of the characters particularly interesting or likeable. It also jumped around a lot in terms of timelines so was sometimes hard to follow.

1. The Boyfriend - Freida McFadden. An escapist read which really stretched credibility! Mildly enjoyable but it was very, very far fetched!

1. Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell. Loved this book but not quite as much as The Wedding Portrait.

1. Him - Clare Empson. An unusual story with quite a tragic ending. Portrays upper class, privileged British life in the 80's/90's quite well, I think. Worth a read.

1. The Mercies - Kiran Millwood Hargrave. Had been meaning to read this for ages and raced through it in 3 days. I love fiction based on actual historical events and like many other PPs, I really enjoyed this story, while finding certain aspects of it quite shocking. The author conjures up the arctic landscape and the tough lives of the characters so well.

@rosyvalentine The Mercies was the first book I finished this year and I'm worried that I've peaked too soon and nothing else will be as good!

5: Songbirds by Christy Lefteri a quick read for me, and I liked the storyline. It started off with me thinking it was quite formulaic but it turned out much better than expected.

6: The Valley of the Tone by David Rabson an interesting non-fiction book on the river near me. Totally not my cup of tea, but the fact that it was about something on my doorstep made it pretty fascinating.

Annoyingly, Goodreads doesn't have this last one in it's database so won't let me log it 😲!

1. How to kill your family. Good grief what a SLOG I found this!! I know lots of people liked it, so I don't know if it's just my attention span having been ruined by social media, or because I read on my kindle, the characters did nothing for me. I just didn't care what happened at all. I hate giving up on a book but I rather wish I had on this one.

Anyway...onwards! I'm yet to choose book 3. I have a large tbr pile

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and The Hand that First Held Mine are two great Maggie O'Farrell books.

I know! I've started The Kings Witches by Kate Foster which is in a similar vein.

@Tinkhasflown
I loved The Distance Between Us but I think I'm in the minority.

I also read I Am, I Am, I Am. Her memoir. It was quite enjoyable but nothing like the mighty Hamnet!

@rosyvalentine
I'm about halfway through The Mercies and loving it..I didn't realise it would have supernatural elements, which I'm not usually keen on.